Condencity_37 city revealed

More than 2 million trips are made daily on the Seoul Metro. The Metro system is comprised of 9 main lines that reach the farthest corners of the Seoul Metroplitan area. It is one of the most efficient and extensive subway systems in the world. Over 70% of the subway lies underground and only moments of above ground visibility bear rider witness to the cityscape.

I spend my Tuesday's circling Seoul on the 'inner-cirle line'. Stretching for more than 60kms this trip in three segments takes nearly 2 hours. Raised track platforms reveal the city in small fragments. The visibility is but momentary as trains dive quick to metric depths below ground. I view the city in small glimpses and when submerged imagine the city above; keeping time with the speed of train below. 

  

Seoul Today: momentarily

My obsession is the city
absorbed by its folds and corners
hidden
Momentarily you are there
time may erase
but your image
is forever
on my mind

Condencity_34 reclaimed city

For much of the past century there are historically significant locations in Seoul that have remained in isolation from Seoul residents. A number of these places have been associated with political and military activity of foreign occupation and interest. Over the past five years significant political shifts, and some such urban sites, as this one in Samchungdong shown from above, (previously occupied by Japanese and US governments) have once again been returned to the city (at least in theory). While this location in particular remains concealed and impenetrable by a 3 meter perimeter stone wall, its redevelopment will soon introduce this 3.5 hectare area back into the complex fabric of Seoul after decades of isolation.

Condencity_33 dwelling

I am currently buried in housing as project typology both academically and professionally. It is a topic pressing on many levels here in South Korea given physical conditions and ongoing debate. The cityscape in Seoul has been transformed by housing over the last 40 years. Dominant apartment blocks and developments stand uncontested. Comparable to the sprawling American suburb (the Korean apartment development is arguably a vertical 'suburb').

Today, strict laws and codes govern such developments in a manner that leaves little room for deviation. What results are homogeneous tower clusters primarily driven by economic speculation. Regulations are currently being challenged and the continued evolution of dwelling in Korea will certainly bring about another shift in residential life here.

Earth work memorial

Autumn is about memory here. The rural landscape in Korea is reminder of generations past and it is during this time, earth-forms [burial grounds] appear pronounced in the mountainous countryside terrain. At the annual harvest moon, families pay respect to ancestral sites overlooking vast valleys of rice fields and beyond. Like faces from the past these sculpted forms look onward, forever burned in memory.

Condencity_32 Seoul Transformations

Image courtesy Seoul Government archives

To be once again living in a city with seasons brings to mind transformations on many levels. Autumn is quickly approaching here in Seoul and with this comes cooling temperatures, clearing blue skies free of haze and moisture and the shedding of summer vegetative growth. This was a summer of reintroduction for me (and certainly autumn will be as well). The transformative reality of life here in Seoul.

Over the past 40 years the shift and growth of populations has changed the face of the city. Residential areas, once dense horizontal clusters of urban 'Hanok's' have been selectively removed and demolished in areas of the city. Districts of housing considered Seoul's new 'suburbs' were home to many middle class families of the 1960's. The acceptance of speculative apartment developments has erased a number of these communities around the city leaving behind decaying pockets of this once common urban housing type.

The image above from 1966 in Dongamdong district in Seoul is fresh reminder of a past era of neighborhood life. Like many places similar, no longer in existence, the face of this city appears to change as quickly as the sifting of annual seasons.

1930's Seoul_ projecting forward

The Hankok is a centuries old tradition of residential typology here in Korea. It's urban form in Seoul proliferated the city beginning in the early 20th century. It evolved from it's rural roots, providing a kind of suburban neighborhood to Seoulites until the multi-story apartment began to appear in the early 1960's. As a sustainable residential type it has evolved today  as primarily an aesthetic and social icon, disappearing as a once functional neighborhood unit. 

Today, while several districts of the Hanok remain, the transformation of social and physical realities are starkly real and these once vibrant places stand as quiet glimpses of the past. Dwellings are rapidly converted to commercial interest and the remaining residences stand empty as owners choose to live elsewhere with modern comforts and conveniences. Economics have further eroded communities and populations have sold in interest of profits or have been forced to leave due to rising values. What remains is a kind of frozen urban museum; raising questions of the future of a regionally timeless way of building.

Condencity_31 market transformation

Bangkok's markets transform the city day and night. When one pack's up for the day the next one (in some other remote district) is being erected for the night. It is a continuous cycle that momentarily changes the face of the city from district to district and from night to day. Populations and crowds shift from one area to the next in a kind of ebb and flow of urban activity.

Condencity_30 urban ruin

I recently returned from Bangkok. It had been six years since I had visited the steamy tropic metropolis. It is interesting to see how cities such as Bangkok are progress and digress all at once. This could be the case for any city certainly but Bangkok's continuous (and evolving) ruin appears to constantly challenge progress.

Climate and stagnating capital contribute to crumbling pockets in the city center. Heat, moisture, rampant vegetation and pollution cloak these ruins in an accelerated entropic state. Side by side stand ruin and new. The city moves about blindly, oblivious to the beauty of ruin.

YTN Competition

In collaboration with hAND architects in Seoul, we recently completed an international competition for a cable news broadcasting studio and headquarters. The project was an in-depth investigation of new technologies (construction and digital) coupled with natural processes. Our final proposal challenged typical high rise construction by carving out the core of the building allowing light and air to penetrate the entirety of the mass. What is commonly circulation and mechanical service becomes a common public area within the structure. Large voids open to the west and south directing views and light in dialogue with the urban context ('DMC') designated as the new digital media center of Seoul.